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How to Increase the Efficiency of Your Heater

Before temperatures begin to dip in the fall, it's a good idea to check
up on your heating system to make sure it's in a good condition to
serve you throughout the winter season. Taking some preventative measures
before the cold weather sets in can not only help you avoid a breakdown
when you least need it, but can also help you keep more of your warm air
inside your home and save you money on your energy bill. Here are some
things you can ask your air conditioning and heating repair company to
do for you to increase heating efficiency during the winter.

1) Inspection

Make sure to
have your heater checked every fall to make sure it is operating safely. A gas furnace can easily have a crack
in the heat exchanger if it is older and rusted out. New furnaces are
not immune to this, as occasionally even a new furnace under warranty
might have a crack in it from a factory defect or from being damaged while
shipped, etc.

The problem with a cracked heat exchanger is that it can cause carbon monoxide
(CO) leakage, which is dangerous for obvious reasons. In case you don’t
know the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning, it can cause illness and
sudden death. The most dangerous part is that it is called a silent killer
because it typically happens at night while you’re sleeping. CO
is not noticed because you can’t smell it. In fact CO is odorless,
tasteless and colorless.

Symptoms are usually very minor, at first. It may take several hours of
exposure before experiencing symptoms, and at low doses you may only experience
a mild headache. While healthy adults may survive a bit longer, the biggest
risk is to children and the elderly who cannot handle the side effects.

That being said, a maintenance inspection will allow your technician to
keep an eye on the system and perform any preventative maintenance or
repairs that may need to be done to prevent early failure and to keep the system
performing optimally.

2) Air Sealing

If your system was installed more than 5 years ago it is possible that
it’s not air sealed. This is vital to your system’s heat loss.
With standards increasing every year and efficiency being the driving
force, it makes sense to have your system updated in areas like this.
Benefits include saving on your utility usage, increasing your home comfort,
and lengthening the life span of the system since it doesn’t have
to work as hard.

3) IAQ

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is important, especially during the fall and winter
when colds, the flu, and other viruses are higher. It’s smart to
replace your filter once a month or, if you have a 4 inch filter, once
a quarter. This will help to remove the viruses and bacteria caught in
the filter and keep them from recirculating through the home.

However, if you really want to improve the quality of air in your home,
the ideal way to prevent these issues is to go with an IAQ product like
an air purification system. On the low end, there are UV lights you can
install. These are the cheapest and lowest performing IAQ products. On
the higher end are products that will perform up to expectations and last
longer. Of course, the cost of these products will be higher. In addition,
a 4 inch filtration system (if installed correctly) should help to increase
purification of the air flow. We recommend both the 4 inch air filtration
system along with an air purification system if your allergies are high
or if you have asthma.

4) System Tune Up

If your system is older, and even if it has had maintenance, we recommend
doing a system Tune Up. A Tune Up will be more in depth than a maintenance
inspection. Although slightly more expensive, this type of service should
provide you with a more efficient system. Our Tune Ups include pulling
the electric motors, inducer draft motors, burners and other heating components,
cleaning them out and reinstalling.

Your furnace motor operates in air conditioning and heating mode, which
means it rarely gets a break. Because of this, and regardless of how often
you change your filters, some particles will make it past the filter and
build up on the motor, causing it to run harder and pull more current
while operating. This can cause failure if not addressed, and it puts
unnecessary stress on the rest of the furnace, causing further issues.
This will also cause smaller components to fail more often than usual.
A heating system Tune Up will allow the electric motors to operate more
effectively and prevent expensive failure not only in heating mode but
also in ac mode.